November 28th - Take Note!

Today's Sunday session we had Takeuchi-san and his oldest son join for the first time. It was good to see them practice and spar together. It is very moving to see parent and child sparing. Parents are less forgiving when fighting their own kids but it is natural that they do this as to set higher standards. I love the way Takeuchi-san is always taking notes for each class he goes to. Notes on what things he did well or badly on. It's great to see someone critique themselves like this. A true hard working fighter.

We also practiced also for the tournament next weekend. Grouping up into teams, we spared applying the tournament rules which is only kicking. You would think that people get very serious when on tournament mode but in actual fact it is very light hearted and fun. Thanks to the great judging and commentary by Yamaguchi-sensei, it made everything just so much more fun and funny.

I'm looking forward to the tournament next Sunday. Win or lose, it will be packed full of emotion, elation and entertainment.

Wayne.

November 25th - Fighters Club # 8

A very emotional class tonight is how I can summarize it. Not as tough as other Fighters Club nights but still hard as the drills were punching and kicks with a combination of press ups, crunches, berpee's and rolls. That was hard! There are only 3 fighter clubs classes left. I will truly miss the hard training once we get to #12. But as Yamaguchi-sensei says, it must end to then start again. I guess we cannot have too much of a good thing. And rest is just as important as working out hard.

November 19th - Time to kick back..

 
Friday class had a massive turn out and all kids and parents were well behaved as usual. I was very impressed with the white belts today. Some showing so much flexibility and ability to do some of the more difficult moves.  During the sparing we saw a lot of guidance from the higher level belt kids. This was great to see. Karate is about respect and guidance for others. Kids learns this fast when doing martial arts. Anyway I will let the photos tell the true story for you as it was wonderful class today.

Wayne.

November 14th - Natural Sunday

We had a good turn out for today's Sunday session.  A mix of both kids, beginners and advanced levels. Many I am sure are practicing for the December 5th tournament and also the next grading towards the end of December. We saw a lot of improvement today especially for new joiners Minagawa-san and Takao-san. Both very athletic and seem very natural especially when  sparring.  Yes, it does take time but when you are enjoying karate it all seems to come together faster and more naturally. It's wonderful to see students fully indulged in Mugen Karate, to see it change their lives and become something more than just a sport to them.

 

 

Mugen Karate Tournament

December 5th will be the next Mugen Karate Tournament in the Tsukishima Sports Plaza. The event will be held from 1:15 to 5pm. Kids will compete individually (by their age group and size) while adults will compete in teams decided by Yamaguchi-sensei. Entry fee is 5000 yen and applications will close on November 20th so please make sure to apply when you next visit a Mugen branch. Promised to be another fun and safe event for all!


Tsukishima Sports Plaza is located in Chuo Ward, Tsukishima 1-9-2. Approximately one minute walk from Yurakucho Station, exit 7 (Yurakucho Line or Oedo Line) -> Map